May
24, 06 - last day to drop classesMay
30, 06 - last day to add classesMay
30, 06 - last day to elect CR/NC option or to audit classesJune
2, 06 - last day to withdraw from term length classes

Required
Texts:

All
required articles/chapters (in chronological order) are to be found at
the Reserve Desk at Marriott Library. Please check also electronic reserve
by Marriott Library. All
articles/chapters are listed below as the required reading for specific
weeks.

Ewa
Wasilewska: Rise of Civilization. Notes. 2006. (EW)

Notes
can be purchased during the first three class meetings from an instructor.

Future/Optional
Texts:

Such
texts are listed after required readings about any of the discussed civilizations.
You don’t have to read them this semester (or any other semester) but if
you are interested in exploring any specific subject on your own, this
is a start.

Subject:

This
course fulfills Social/Behavioral Science Integration. It focuses on the
rise of various civilizations around the world. This class explores such
famous complex societies as Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Maya, as well as
those less known but equally important as the Indus Valley or nomadic empire
of the Hsiung-Nu.

Requirements:

Come
to the lectures, enjoy them, do your readings, and pass required exams/
assignments (all - take home; each - 5 pages, typed, double space).
At the end of the semester turn in your paper (7 pages plus bibliography)
on your most favorite civilization! And remember, always laugh at
the instructor’s jokes!

....Meeting
# 1 - May 15, 2006
Toward
a definition of “CIVILIZATION”.

[From]
Common understanding: “You know it when you find it,” i.e., selected histories
of discoveries.

Almost
anything about ancient Egyptian religion. (Avoid those without pictures).Karl-Theodor
Zauzich: Hieroglyphs without Mystery. University of Texas Press. 1996.
(Impress your friends with knowledge of the ancient Egyptian script). ;-)

Barnes,
Gina L. Chapter 12. The Making and Breaking of Empire. 220 B.C. - A.D.
500. Pp. 192-207. In The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: The
Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan. Thames & Hudson. 1999.

Di
Cosmo, Nicola. Those Who Draw the Bow. The Rise of the Hsiung-nu Nomadic
Empire and the Political Unification of the Nomads. Pp. 161-205. In
Ancient
China and Its Enemies. The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History.
Cambridge
University Press. 2002.

Future/optional
reading (very interesting but also confusing at times):

Di
Cosmo’s whole book.

Meeting
# 9 - June 12, 2006
The
“enigma” of the New World: THE MAYA, THE
AZTECS and THE INCAS.

Continuum
of complexity: Mesoamerica as a scholarly dream.

From
prehistory to history: decipherment of the Mayan languages and writing.

For
your final (take-home) assignment, write a comparative critique of these
movies using class lectures and readings and, in the process, select three
“primary movers” which are, in your opinion, best represented by these
civilizations. Please, justify your selections.

AUGUST
2, 2006 - final exams, assignments, and research papers must be turned
in to the Dept. of Anthropology, ST. Build. 102.